INSIGHT
 

   All religions acknowledge that humanity suffers from some form of bondage.  The forerunners of religious movements apart from the Bible have beckoned “freedom” through series of steps toward “liberation” or some form of  “enlightenment” to bring one’s self out of bondage.  How different is Biblical religion! Since the beginning, God has always shown and reminded His people that He is their Liberator and Justifier, and that He alone can bring them out of bondage.  Our Lord is the only Being in existence that can give us freedom from sin.

   I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians;  I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. Lev 26:12-13

   Biblical religion is also unique in its exclusivity.  God, and God alone can save. He is the very center of our salvation. He calls us to walk beside Him. To walk as He does; to be holy as He is holy. He defines the perimeter of our walk with Him and teaches us accountability.

   No wonder that the practice of other religions and/or beliefs have no effect on the human heart!  Other religious ideologies are completely powerless because they preach liberation by your own merit. They say that salvation and the knowledge to freedom is within you. 

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

 

   Jesus is the ONLY way to salvation, even to a personal relationship with God.  No other religion even imagines a personal relationship with deity except for Biblical religion. Mohammed never said that he was the way; Bhudda always told his followers that they had to find the path to enlightenment themselves; and other so-called religious preachers and teachers pervert the gospel with rules and regulations to freedom.  Jesus always made Himself the very  issue of His teachings. He calls us to abide in Him, to follow Him and to hope in Him.  He teaches faith and grace.  He is the reason for our singing, our praying and our persevering.  He is the reason to live!

   Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Acts 4:12
The Heart of God: The First Commandment
God As Center & Circumference

Key Text:                             Exodus 20:3

 

“You shall have no other gods before Me.”

 

Theme:

The first commandment sets the stage for the attitude  necessary to understand the nine that follow. If God is truly God, then all that He says is true and is to be obeyed.  If God is truly God, then we are safe within His dominion and parameters. All who belong to Him and consecrate themselves as His covenant people are safeguarded from evil. The first commandment is not only first in sequence, but also first in priority. The Lord, God, our deliverer, does not accept a peripheral role in our lives. He won’t serve as an occasional troubleshooter or bail us out of trouble only to be forgotten when things are “going good”.  He is everything to us, or nothing at all. “He neither seeks nor will He accept a position short of sovereignty in our lives.” 

 

Application:

Here are some practical suggestions:

1. Pray daily to God! Submit every aspect of your life to the Lord. Let Him work wonders in those difficult areas of your life!

2. Surrender your desires & demands! Make God’s desires and demands the center and circumference of your life! Know your Lord!

3. Be dazzled by God! Begin each day with a prayer to be in sync with the Spirit. Let God amaze you by what He accomplishes through your devotion to Him. Be thankful and content with everything!

4. Develop a godly fear! Be aware that God is really with you and that He has saved you! Make Him the focus and center of your everyday activities!

 

 

 May the Lord richly bless you!

 

Sermon Outline

Making God our Center & our Circumference

 

To make  the Lord our Circumference we first need to make Him the Center of our lives

 

I. The 1st Commandment demands our attention

 

   1. God has never held back from you Romans 8:32

   2. What are you holding back from God?

 

II. The 1st Commandment demands our focus

       Phillipians 3:8-9

   1. Where is your focus? What are your dreams?

   2. Do you see yourself as part of God’s plan or do

       you have your own plan?

   3. How much have you given up for the sake of

       knowing your Lord? What’s getting in the way?

 

III. The 1st Commandment demands our zeal

       Romans 12:9-21

  1. The commitment needs to be die-hard

  2. The integrity  needs to be consistent

  3. The desire for Him needs to be always fresh

 

If the Lord is the center of your life, then your perimeter is God’s Kingdom¾Everything will revolve around it!

 

IV. Circumference is Discipleship

          Luke 14:25-35

  1. Going beyond rituals

  2. Going beyond consumerism

  3. Our conscience always needs to be exposed and

       be self-corrective. 2 Tim 1:7

 

V. Circumference is Total-Life Obedience

       1 Corinthians 15:58

  1. Changing our viewpoint from having religion to

        being religious.

  2. Making God the shelf and our desires and goals

       the knick-knacks.

  3. Have you realized where you are and what you’ve

       been called to?
Small Group Study

Warm-up:

When you gather on Sunday for assembly (services), are you always filled with a sense of awe about your spiritual surroundings? How do you view your surroundings? Are you always aware of the presence of the Lord?

 

See To It                                         Hebrews 12:18-29            

 

1. What is being used as a point of reference in verses 18-21?  See Exodus 19:16-25; 20:1-21

 

2. What made the Israelite encampment at Mt. Sinai so terrifying?

 

3. How is what we have now better than what the Israelites experienced? How is it different experience? How is it a similar experience?

 

4. Verses 25 -29 contain an admonishment (warning). If you were an Israelite in the time of Moses, how would you have taken this warning and your experience of the Holy God?

 

5. Do you believe that the Earth will be shaken once more? How can we prevent ourselves from being shaken and destroyed when that happens?

 

6. How are we to acknowledge the fact that we are in an unshakable Kingdom? (verse 28)

 

Seeing It Closer:

1. What kinds of things distract you from picturing the description of the Kingdom in Hebrews 12?

 

2. Do you at times have difficulty accepting the fact that you are part of Heaven’s awesome plan? What kind of things do you doubt?

 

3. Do you sincerely believe that you are walking the narrow and difficult path? How do you know this?

 

Getting To It:

Pray that we may be open to weeding out anything that may get in our way of devotion to our One and Only True God!

 

This week's Quiet Times:

God As center & Circumference

 

MONDAY                    As our Center, God Demands our Attention...

Read Matthew 22:37-38. What must you do to make God the center of your life? Your heart, soul, mind and strength is to be used to love God. Do you demand anything less from a spouse? Our emotions (heart), soul, thoughts (mind) and physical nature (strength) is to be focused on our love for God. Does God love us with anything less? Read Romans 8:32.  Has God held anything back from you? Write Romans 14:9 on an index card and memorize it. Whatever you do, do it to the glory of God!

 

TUESDAY                   As our Center, God Demands our Focus...

Read Phillipians 3:8-9.  Have you abandoned your dreams for the sake of knowing Jesus?  Have you stopped looking after material gain for the sake of knowing your Savior? Have you gotten rid of situations, jobs or other distractions that get in your way of knowing Jesus? Read Luke 8:14. What is preventing this seed from maturing? Can you identify times in your life when distractions hindered you from maturing in your faith and thus hampered your growth in Christ? Can you identify the particular attitude or distraction you had? Now read Matthew 18:7-9.  What attitude does Jesus teach you to have about things that cause you to loose your focus? Isn’t this a radical way of looking at things!!!???  But isn’t this the same thing that Paul is saying in the first passage you looked at today?  Write Phillipians 3:8 on an index card and memorize it.

               

WEDNESDAY             As our Center, God Demands our Zeal...

People who are married understand that the commitment in their relationship is 24-7.  I don’t think that you would consider a potential mate who’s pledge to you would only cover five days of the week.  When you get married you promise to have no other spouse, no other commitment, no other distraction from your mate.  You are to dedicate yourself to each other through good and bad. When the Lord says: “You shall have no other gods before Me.”, He expects the same wholehearted zeal from you.  Consider King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16:6-13.  From verse 8, was Asa accustomed to relying on  the Lord?  What happened later on in his life? What happened to his zeal? Look at Hanani’s point in verse 9. Check out Romans 12:9-21.  These encouraging snippets all come from a heart that is fully committed to the Lord¾not lacking in zeal (verse 11).  Our zeal and devotion to Jesus must be consistent! See Luke 9:62.  Write this passage on an  index card and memorize it.

 

THURSDAY                As our Circumference, God Demands Discipleship...

Yesterday’s memory verse touched upon the importance of keeping your focus on Jesus to be able minded for God’s Kingdom.  Not only has God saved you but now He prepares you to serve effectively in His Kingdom.  His desire for you is to have no other distraction than being of service to the Kingdom in every way God enables you to be. “Jesus calls you for more than  mere following; He asks you to imitate His unreserved commitment to the Kingdom of God.” ¾Shelly  Read Luke 14:25-35.  The events surrounding the next scene seem to happen because of the great multitudes following Jesus.  It is interesting to see here that Jesus was not just interested in numbers, He wanted committed people.  He wanted people who were going to be committed to Him from the heart.  People who would make Him their Lord. The discipleship that He seeks goes beyond superficial religious ritual and consumerism.  Jesus desires for your discipleship to be a continuous examination of your consciences in light of how you are loving your brethren, even our enemies.  Verse 33 again depicts the importance of having no distractions aside from God Himself¾“You shall have no other gods before Me.”  Write Mark 8:34 on an index card and memorize it.

 

FRIDAY                      As our Circumference, God Demands Total -Life Obedience...

Discipleship in Christ cannot take place during your  own time.  You cannot fit God’s plan for you within your schedule.  As your center and circumference, God recruits you for  His plan and demands your life as a worker in the Kingdom.  The God of the Bible is too big and too all-encompassing to be sitting in your shelf of life.  You need to view yourself sitting on God’s Shelf¾His Kingdom.  The Hebrew writer painted the picture of reality that is the Kingdom of God in Hebrews 12:18-29.  What a picture!!  What a sense of awe! Can you not see that the same God who spoke from Mt. Sinai to the Egyptians is the same God that has rescued you from eternal damnation?!  Even though your physical eyes can’t see the legions of angels in joyful assembly, your spiritual eyes should be able to appreciate and see the majesty of God’s grace. What new appreciation and respect have you learned from the first commandment?